Push Harder
by Goth Albino Angel
Summary: "If this is what you call trying, then you have no hope of winning the tournament. Let alone, succeeding as a Huntress!" (Pre-V3C4) Weiss strives to work harder and meet Winter's expectations. The results are quite... dangerous. Schneebling fic.


**_RWBY is the property of Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth Productions._**

 ** _Alright, so this is one I thought of right after seeing the sneak peek for V3 C4. I figured it couldn't hurt and set out to write it for NaNo. And here we are. There are mentions of blood, but nothing else too extreme. Enjoy the fic._**

* * *

Weiss sat atop Beacon Cliff, looking down into the Emerald Forest. The wind blew slightly, rustling through her flowing white locks, which she had taken from her ponytail some time ago. She had also removed her jacket, as the day was still warm. She simply sat in just her dress and boot, looking off into the horizon, watching the Nevermores occasionally fly up or swoop down. Flocks or regular crows would fly out of the way of the large Grimm, not wanting to get caught in its deadly beak as it bore down on whatever prey it was trying to catch.

 _Deadly beak_.

Weiss sighed, remembering the training session she had endured earlier with her sister. Winter had been harsh, harsher than usual. She had scowled throughout most of the session, a deep frown marring her beautiful features as she watched Weiss struggle to create any living creature from her glyphs. It had been a practice she had been working on for years and that Winter had perfected some time ago.

But Weiss had been unable to produce the anticipated results, unable to even create a small Misketer from her glyphs. Winter had been disappointed to say the least. The fierce expression on her face had fallen, replaced with a simple frown of disapproval. Weiss was sure her heart had sunk into her stomach as she watched the sadness play in her big sister's eyes, the eyes she had looked up to ever since she could remember.

Winter had said nothing, not bothering to even give words of advice or a scathing, degrading comment about Weiss' lack of ability. She simply remained silent, turning on her heel and striding away with all the regality of a queen whose underling had let her down. Weiss had wandered for some time, looking for a place where she could be alone and ponder the ache in her chest.

That's how she found herself on the cliff. It was so quiet out here. Not many students ventured to this area, still remembering their initiation day. That made it the perfect place to come to think and ponder on the failures of the day. She had been trying so hard to get better before Winter arrived, but she was constantly being dragged off to stop some robbery or another with her team. There was never any time to practice the maneuver and by the Vytal Festival arrived, she had been unable to even conjure small Grimm.

It was humiliating, to say the least.

"I didn't expect to find you here." A voice said nonchalantly. Weiss turned quickly to find a black-clad figure leaning against a tree nearby, arms crossed casually.

"Blake." Weiss huffed, hiding her relief. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Only about ten minutes." Her teammate responded, walking forward to stand beside her. "Long enough to see that you're troubled by something. Mind telling me what?"

"I do, actually." The whitette retorted, looking back off to the forest. "It's kind of embarrassing and personal."

"And that is exactly the type of thing we're supposed to share with one another as teammates." Blake replied easily, folding her legs and sinking cross-legged next to the whitette. "You have my word I won't tell a soul."

Weiss hesitated, mulling this over a moment. She did make a promise to be the best teammate ever. In order to follow through, that meant communication with her team members. Sighing the whitette glanced to her hands before looking out over the treetops. "I messed up in training today."

"Training?" Blake inquired, also looking out to the forest.

"There's a… special practice within our family that allows us to create moving creatures with our semblances." Weiss explained. "It's quite similar to your ability to clone yourself-."

"They're shadows, not clones." Blake corrected softly, waving for Weiss to continue.

"Yes, well, it's similar to that ability. Except, instead of making sculptures of ourselves, we can create Grimm. It takes a lot of practice and fierce control of one's aura to do so, since using too much aura will make the Grimm more dangerous. Winter was helping me work on it today, but… I failed to create anything."

"So what?" Blake asked, crossing her arms behind her head and leaning against them, turning her gaze to the sky instead. "Just try again tomorrow and the day after. It's why they call it practice, Weiss. No one is good immediately. It takes time, effort and dedication to reach the level you want to achieve."

"But Winter has already mastered it-!"

" _No one_ is good immediately." Blake reiterated, emphasizing her point. "Winter is, what, five years older than you? That means she's had more time to perfect the technique while you've been here at Beacon, with all of the distractions around you. No one's circumstances are exactly, the same, Weiss. Don't let something like this get you down. Just keep practicing and, little-by-little, you'll get better."

Weiss gazed at her friend a moment, fighting the urge to worry her lip as she mused on the words a moment. It wasn't like Blake to speak her mind quite that much, so Weiss knew that her black0clad teammate was completely serious. She just… couldn't find it in herself to believe that Blake was right this time. She needed to get better, she needed to be able to impress Winter, to get on Winter's level before the end of the tournament.

A slight shuffling made her turn to see Blake standing. "I'm hungry, so I'm going to go grab something to eat." Amber eyes found blue and Blake shifted, her gaze softening, if just slightly. "Remember what I said, Weiss. You don't need to be the best immediately. Just practice and you'll get better with time and experience."

And with that, the bowed woman took off back toward the school grounds.

Weiss turned her gaze back to the Emerald Forest, continuing to think over her comrade's words. Blake had seemed so sincere with what she had said and Weiss knew that it was all in her best interest. However, Winter must have her best interest at heart too, right? That must have been why she was pushing her so hard, because she wanted Weiss to get better. Setting her jaw, Weiss leaped from the cliff, jumping from glyph to glyph until she landed in the forest. Deciding to stay close to the cliff in case she needed to make a quick escape, Weiss began focusing her aura, taking deep breaths as she began to practice once more.

 ** _…_**

Weiss gazed around her as she tried to keep up with the enemy, two members of some team from Mistrel. The two women were, at the moment, using their superior speed to take hits at Yang. Luckily, they didn't know her semblance so the brawler was in the midst of blocking to absorb their attacks while Weiss tried to think of something to do. As she noticed how the flittered about, a sudden thought struck her.

 _The technique! If I use it, I might be able to throw them off long enough for Yang to get a super-powerful blow in and render them defeated._

 _But you failed to use it properly._ A voice mocked her, taunting her for her failure. _You can't even produce one bird. Winter will never notice you if you continue to be a disgrace to the Schnee name._

 _I'm going to show Winter._ The younger heiress hissed to herself. _I'm going to master the technique._ Closing her eyes, Weiss began focusing her aura. Neither of her opponents took notice, but Yang did feel the shift in the air. Turning to her teammate, the blonde watched in confusion as Weiss pressed Myrtenaster to the ground, only its tip touching as a large glyph appeared in front of her. _What is she doing?_ The brawler wondered, watching as Weiss knelt to the ground, her eyes still closed.

Weiss had begun to pant heavily, focusing more and more of her aura into getting the technique to work this time. She had failed to make it do so the night before during her solitary training, but it _had_ to work this time. She just needed to give it more. Opening her eyes, Weiss focused on her targets, wanting to make sure the creatures knew who they were supposed to attack. She could control them. She _would_ control them.

The glyph took on a blue outline.

Now, more and more of the spectators had noticed what Weiss was doing, no longer focusing on the other team who had also stopped tormenting Yang to watch. All gathered were immensely curious of what could possibly be going on with the heiress and whispers circulated the crowd as everyone waited in anticipation. Even the commentators had stopped to watch with interest, unable to give any commentary on such a strange occurrence.

Gritting her teeth, Weiss' eyes narrowed to absolute slits as she finally allowed the glyph to bloom. All gasped as the large snowflake design lifted into the air, spinning quickly until it became a blur. The crowd was completely enamored with the design, waiting to see what would come of it. Team RWBY were especially interested, never having seen Weiss practice such a technique before. Yang stared at her temporary partner in awe as their opponents cowered in fear of what this strange occurrence could mean.

Up in the stands, blue eyes widened in horror as Winter realized what the younger heiress was trying to do. _She's going to hurt herself if she keeps pouring so much of her aura into it._ Rising from her seat, Winter began making her way down closer, watching Weiss closely for the coming signs and hoping that it wouldn't get too bad.

Down in the arena, Weiss continued pouring her aura into the special technique, her eyes screwed shut in utter concentration. The blue outlining of the snowflake melded with the white and Weiss opened glowing white eyes, her gaze trained on the three people in front of her. With a cry, the younger whitette let her aura explode.

There were shouts of terror as large ice Nevermores flew around the battlegrounds, attacking the other three fighters. Yang easily leapt out of the way of the large birds, shooting at them in defense. To her surprise, her bullets didn't do much damage to the solid ice, the large Grimm creatures continuing. As she looked around, the blonde noticed that their opponents were also having the same trouble. The only person the Grimm weren't attacking was Weiss.

Taking a closer look at her teammate, Yang noticed that Weiss had stayed in the same place, the same position even. She was staring blankly into space with those same glowing white eyes as the Nevermores raged the landscape around her. She was completely silence, the very air around her freezing with the energy she was releasing. Yang could feel her skin tingling with the lingering cold, confusion and distress warring in her mind as she tried to figure out what was going on while dodging more attacks.

Meanwhile, up in the stands, Ruby and Blake were both on high alert as they watched the chaos reign below. Ruby was a jittery mess, rose petals flying in all directions as she vibrated from the worry of what was happening. Even being as inexperienced as she was, Ruby could tell that something was way off with this maneuver and it worried her that Weiss had not moved from her spot. Blake was watching Weiss intently, her ears standing at attention beneath her bow as she tried to figure out a safe way to get her teammates out of the situation.

Winter bit her lip in trepidation, her eyes wandering from the attacking ice beasts to her little sister as she tried to figure out what to do. Entering the arena would be a clear breach of the rules and end up getting both teams disqualified. That would not only ruin her own reputation, but any chance Weiss had of proving herself. _Which she wouldn't have to do if I hadn't been so… aggressive._ Winter shook her head. Now was not the time to sink into self-loathing, she had to get rid of those Nevermores and quickly. With the amount of aura Weiss was pouring into them, it was only a matter of time before the broke from the barrier and went after the civilians.

Whirling around, the older heiress turned her head in all directions until she caught sight of a black bow and rose petals. _That must be them._ She thought, hurrying over to find her sister's leader and remaining teammate watching the fight intently. Both turned to her upon her arrival and Winter cleared her throat. Before she could say anything, she was being lifted by the collar of her shirt as enraged amber eyes glared at her furiously.

"Look what you did!" Blake snarled, turning her to face the arena. "This is your fault! Why couldn't you just leave her be? Why can't you see she's doing her best?"

"I was trying to help her achieve her full potential!" Winter snapped, infuriated that this first year student was lecturing her on what she had done wrong. As if she didn't already know…

"You mean, you were trying to get her to become more powerful, right?" Blake hissed, pushing at Winter's shoulders. "Because that's all you Schnees care about! Weiss was doing just fine before you got here!"

"You don't know anything about being a Schnee!" Winter shouted, reaching for her sword.

"And you don't know anything about being Weiss!" Blake roared, making to unsheathe Gambol Shroud. "You should have left her alone and let her advance at her own pace!"

"I was trying to make her better!"

"She was doing the best she could as she was!"

Ruby looked between the two and then down to the arena. Noticing that blood had begun dripping from Weiss' nose and mouth, the redhead shot a quick glance to the aura meter to see that it was dangerously low. Casting a quick peek at the two women still arguing beside her, Ruby knew that she had to do something quickly or her friend was going to be in critical condition.

Leaping down the rows of seats, Ruby raced for the edge of the barrier, trying to get as close as she could. She heard Blake shout her name from above, but paid her teammate no mind as she cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted, "YANG!"

Down in the arena, a blonde head poked from the grass, glancing around. She could have sworn someone had just shouted her name- There it was again! Purple eyes lifted to the stands, looking around to spot the source of the familiar voice. Noting a flash of red near the edge of the barrier, Yang sped toward the arena wall, dodging Nevermore attacks as best she could and absorbing the ones that she couldn't.

"Ruby, Weiss has gone nuts!" Yang shouted up to her sister.

"I know!" Ruby called. "She's not herself, Yang. See if you can break her concentration. Her focus on her aura is what's keeping those birds intact. If you can break her focus, they might disappear!"

"I'll do my best!" Yang responded, turning on her heel. She gasped to see a white beak coming her way and immediately jumped to the side, just barely missing the attack as the large ice beak smashed to pieces against the metal wall.

Yang paid no mind to her foe as she set her eyes on her new target. Because none of the Nevermores were attacking Weiss, she knew that, if she just got out of their target range, she would be able to get her friend out of her chance. Even from this distance, she could see the red beginning to stain Weiss' dress and her eyes narrowed, slowly fading to red. No one and nothing hurt her team members.

Taking in a deep breath, Yang moved her foot back into a runner's stance, letting the energy accumulate in her body before taking off. A dust cloud and a few grooves in the dirt were the only indication that she had been there at all. Using her gauntlets, the blonde fought to go faster, whizzing through the air straight toward the whitette. A Nevermore dove for her, trying to catch her before she got too close to Weiss. Yang knew she couldn't avoid the attack and instead stopped herself, getting into a blocking stance at the last minute to absorb the impact. The ice froze her skin and the impact left a few cuts along her arms, but Yang couldn't focus on her own pain at the moment.

Using the force provided from the blow, Yang grabbed the ice beast by the beak and smashed it against the ground a few times, dazing it. Taking off once more, Yang slid to a stop in front of Weiss, one gloved hand reaching out to shake the whitette's shoulder vigorously. This did nothing to help and Yang began to panic, realizing that she couldn't break through Weiss' concentration that easily.

"It won't work!" Winter shouted down. "She's used too much of her aura in the maneuver. You have to take her down if you have any hope of stopping them!"

"What!" Yang shrieked, head snapping to the older heiress in horrified shock.

"You have to punch her, you dolt!" Winter screamed. "Knock her unconscious! Do SOMETHING!"

Yang gazed up at the stands, spotting the terrified gazes of Blake and Ruby. Looking back, she found the Nevermores bearing down on the other team and knew that she needed to stop them. Taking a deep breath to center herself, Yang looked down at her bleeding teammate and raised her fist. _I'm sorry, Weiss._ She thought, bringing her arm down.

There was a gasp of shock from the entire crowd as Weiss went flying through the air, her concentration completely cut off. The Nevermores dissolved into the air and the other team breathed sighs of relief, falling against each other in exhaustion. Yang felt a pang in her heart knowing that she had needed to hurt one of her teammates, but she knew that Weiss would never forgive herself if she had caused someone to die. Panting heavily, the blonde turned back to the other team, knowing she needed to finish this fight up quickly. They were all running their limit on aura, so she would make it quick.

Striding forward, she reloaded her gauntlets, getting ready to deliver the final blows. However, as she drew near, the other team began backing away quickly, raising their hands in surrender. "We're not ready to die!" one of them whimpered. "You guys win."

The bell rang to signal Team RWBY's victory and Yang nodded, walking forward to shake their hands. "Sorry about what happened." She whispered so that the microphones didn't pick it up. "It's not what we had intended. You need to get to the infirmary."

"So do you." She replied softly. "Your partner looks like she's taken a lot of damage from that attack. From your surprise, I'm guessing it was a new one?"

"I guess so…" Yang sighed.

"Well, good luck in the tournament." Her partner chuckled, bumping Yang's fist. "You two make quite the scary team."

"Hey, you weren't too bad, either." Yang laughed, turning and jogging over to Weiss. Ruby and Blake had also leaped into the arena once the barriers were lowered, racing over to their downed teammate in concern.

"There's a lot of blood." Ruby whispered, clutching onto Blake with worry.

"I know, Ruby." Blake sighed, ruffling the dark red locks before kneeling to lift Weiss into her arms. "We need to get her to the infirmary. I can't feel any aura coming from her at all."

"That's because it was all used up in the technique." Winter stated, slowly walking closer. There was a hint of uncertainty in the mask she was using, her eyes flicking to Weiss before looking to Blake. "I would like to carry her to the infirmary."

"No." Yang growled, she and Ruby preventing Winter from coming any closer. "You've done enough _helping_ , thanks. We'll take it from here."

"This was not what was intended to happen." Winter told them. "She wasn't supposed to use the maneuver outside of training-."

"And she wouldn't have, had you not pressured her into getting 'better'. Blake retorted. "I think you've done enough damage. We'll get Weiss to the infirmary."

As Blake hurried off with Weiss cradled in her arms, Winter watched her go, her mask threatening to fall completely as she saw just how helpless Weiss had become. Yang and Ruby were still watching her, concerned silver eyes gazing at the older Schnee. Winter lowered her head a moment and heaved a heavy sigh. "I didn't mean for this to happen." She whispered, gazing at her gloves.

Yang's eyes returned to their usual purple color as she strode forward and crossed her arms in front of the slightly taller woman. "Look," she began. "I get that you want Weiss to be better. That's completely understandable. But you can't always push her to be better like that." Winter's head snapped up at the sudden gentle tone. Yang's expression was still serious, but she lowered her arms. "As the older sister, you can't always be pushing her to be better and better. That puts too much pressure on her to be like you. Trust me, the last thing any little sister wants is to be exactly like their big sister."

"But-."

"No." The statement was firm. "You need to let her make mistakes, find her own path, discover who she is. You can help nudge her along, but as the big sis, it's your job to help her _out_ of messes like these, not be the _cause_ of her being in them. Understand?"

Winter glanced between the two sisters, feeling her heart ache for the trouble she had caused Weiss. She had just wanted to spare her little sister any more ridicule. Instead, she may have actually caused some. Looking at the example before her, Winter sighed once more. "Being who I am… it's hard to let go of. It's the way we've been raised for years."

"And we're not telling you it's wrong." Ruby piped in. "It's just… bad. Too be like that all the time, you know? I mean, don't you get stressed too? Do you really want Weiss going through that?"

"But I don't know _how_ to…" Winter waved a hand between the pair of them and muttered, "let her make mistakes."

"That's easy!" Yang laughed, beginning to lead them toward the infirmary. "The real problem is actually helping her out of the mess, trust me."

"I'm not very adept at that, either." The whitette grumbled.

"It's hard." Ruby admitted.

"But it takes practice." The blonde explained. "Something I'm certain you Schnees are fairly good at. We'll even help you for however long you're here."

"I really don't think that is appropriate considering the situation." Winter said uneasily. "Some may assume I am teaching you new tactics to win your battles and-."

"It'll be fine!" the brawler interrupted her, the trio quieting as they entered the infirmary. The other team waved to them as the nurses checked their wounds. Blake was explaining to a doctor what had happened with Weiss and the medic nodded, hurrying off to get the necessary tools to check Weiss' condition. As she did, Blake turned to find her friends coming forward, amber eyes narrowing at the sight of the elder Schnee sister. Winter met her gaze evenly and Blake huffed, looking to her downed friend.

"She's in critical condition." The brunette murmured, focusing on Ruby and Yang. "Her aura was pretty low when I brought her in. And there was a lot of blood loss."

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Ruby asked.

"She'll make it." Winter responded softly, walking to the bedside. "She'll be fine with proper rest and nutrition."

"Now, she cares." Blake scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Come on, Blake, don't be like that." Yang sighed, nudging her partner. "She's worried about Weiss too. And she knows it's her fault this happened. Can we please save the fighting for when Weiss can act as mediator?"

"Fine." Blake grunted, rolling her eyes. "Come on, let's get your wounds checked out. Your aura was pretty low too."

"Aye aye, partner." Yang laughed, allowing Blake to lead her to another bed. Ruby stayed beside Winter as they both watched Weiss breathe. She was still covered in her blood-soaked clothing and Winter sighed quietly. She started, however, when a gentle hand landed on her arm and the whitette glanced down to find a small smile shining up at her.

"We know you were just trying to help her." Ruby told her calmly. "It's in a sister's nature to want their little sister to be the best she can be. But you have to know when to slow down. Weiss will be okay; she's strong, just like you. And don't worry; Yang and I will teach you how to be… less aggressive in your training. Weiss has improved a lot since she got here, you know."

Winter stared down at her for a few beats before glancing to her sister, the corners of her lips tugging upward slightly. "Yes, I know."

"Then come on." Ruby chirped, turning to head to her sister's bed where Yang was arguing with a nurse over her mass of hair. "It's no good feeling guilty about it right now. Save that for when you apologize to Weiss."

Winter watched the little red ball bounce away and cast another glance to Weiss. Reaching out, she made to stroke the pale cheek, but caught herself with a sigh. Despite the guilt tugging at her heart, she still had to maintain appearances, for both their reputation. She would wait until later to be affectionate. For now, she needed to figure out how she was going to apologize without embarrassing either herself or her little sister.

 ** _…_**

Everything was dark. All around was darkness and she was unable to tell if it was because her eyes were closed or if they were open and she was just in a dark place. Her entire body felt like lead, all of her limbs weighing heavily to whatever surface she was lying on. After a few moments of simply staring tiredly at the darkness, she finally realized that her eyes were indeed closed and now her mission was to open them and assess her surroundings. Slowly, one ice blue eye began twitching, the pale lid covering it responding to the movement and sliding up, bit by bit. The bright light assaulted the tender retina and she screwed both eyes shut in slight pain.

"Don't force it." A voice instructed as Weiss made an effort once more, allowing first one eye and then the other to become accustomed to the brightness.

"Winter?" Weiss groaned, blinking a few times.

"Hello, Weiss." Winter replied, her tone only marginally softer than usual. "You are finally awake."

"What… what happened?" the younger woman asked, attempting to turn her head only to stop when a ringing pain shot through her skull at the movement.

"You lost control of the technique and summoned large Nevermores that laid waste to the battleground and everything on it." Winter replied succinctly.

"Is anyone hurt?" Weiss asked quietly, a bit of worry filtering into the tired blue gaze.

"Your partner and the other team received injuries that were minor compared to your own. They have healed and their auras are replenished." Winter's gaze softened to match her voice and she sighed. "Your aura was completely depleted, your partner's blow taking the last of it."

"Yang hit me?"

"I told her to." Winter said quickly. "It was necessary. The only way to break a full aura concentration is to knock to caster unconscious." The older sister glanced away, worrying her lip once more before whispering, "I'm sorry."

"You did it to protect the civilians." Weiss murmured, turning her head in the opposite direction and crossing her arms at the elbow atop the bedsheet. "It's part of your job to protect the people first. That's… it's my fault."

"Don't be moronic." Winter huffed, still not looking to her sister. "It couldn't possibly have been your fault. You're only human, after all. Humans are prone to mistakes."

"Schnees aren't supposed to make mistakes." Weiss said softly, head lowering.

"Well, when they are riding the coattails of the mistake of another Schnee, I think an exception can be made."

Ice blue eyes lifted in confusion and Weiss asked, "What do you mean?"

Sky blue eyes flicked to her before Winter cleared her throat and said, "Your teammates are quite protective of you, Weiss. They refused to even let me carry you here. They were certain I would cause more damage. After a stern talking to from that odd blonde and some very vicious insults from that aggressive, yellow-eyed young woman, your leader gave me a comfort talk and told me how I could… possibly not be as, erm, obsessive in training you."

"Those idiots." Weiss hissed.

"Those idiots had your best interest at heart." Winter said, a small smile tugging her lips. "Even the brunette, whom I don't think likes our family very much…"

"Blake isn't too fond of the Schnee name at the moment, no." Weiss giggled. "I'm… slowly convincing her that not all Schnees are bad."

"I'm glad." Winter shared a smile with her little snowflake before the pair lapsed into awkward silence, not certain where to go from here. Winter was trying to figure out how to broach the subject of Weiss needing to take a break from training for a little while in order to build her armor once more. Weiss struggled to express her regret at failing to do the technique properly.

Finally, Winter spoke first. "Weiss, I think it best that you not practice the maneuver for a while. In order to let your aura build back to full maximum."

"Winter, I'm sorry." Weiss murmured quietly, her eyes sinking to stare at her hands on the bedsheet. "I was just trying to prove that I could do it, that… I was good enough-."

"Weiss." The younger heiress stopped and glanced up nervously. "You're… doing just fine." Winter seemed to be nervous herself, neither of them having any experience in this particular area. "Even though you could use some work, you are progressing at a fairly steady rate, little snowflake. You are improving and, with time, you will reach the level you wish to be at."

Ice blue eyes widened at the praise, not daring to believe it. "Winter…"

The older woman coughed into her hand, turning her head away slightly, mumbling, "And, considering it was your first time conjuring Nevermores, they were quite durable and fierce."

"And?" someone shouted from the infirmary doorway. Weiss jumped and whirled around, ignoring the pain in her head so she could just make out Yang, Ruby and Blake striding forward.

"And… I'm impressed with your performance." Winter added. "You missed a few chances to strike the enemy, but your technique really has improved since we were home."

"We'll work on saying 'I'm proud' later." Yang laughed, setting food down on the table for Winter.

"But it's getting better." Ruby chirped, going about helping Weiss sit up as Blake set food nearby for Weiss.

"How are ya feelin' Weiss?" the blonde asked, turning to her friend.

"My head hurts." Weis sighed, leaning against the pillows. "It seems my aura depletion did quite a number on me. Are you well? With the Nevermores out of my control, it would only make sense that you also be injured in the process."

"Nah, it was nothin'!" Yang snickered. "If anything, you got it worse off. And with Blake about to throw down with your big sis, I'd say Ruby was the only one to get out completely fine."

"Blake, she is a member of the military!" Weiss scolded her bow-wearing comrade. "She is also five years your senior."

"She's still a Schnee." Blake scoffed, crossing her arms and pushing the food closer to Weiss. "Any Schnee that hurts their own deserves a smack in the head."

Weiss pondered making another comment on Winter's prowess over Blake's own, but decided against it, turning her attention to the food instead. Now that she had gotten her conversation with Winter aside, the younger whitette could feel her stomach aching for something digestible and preferably tangible. Reaching out, Weiss snagged a roll and bit into it, enjoying the slight hint of honey.

Around her, Ruby and Yang began giving pointers to Winter—on what, Weiss couldn't even fathom—and Blake read one of her ever-present books. As she chewed the roll, Weiss thought on what had just happened. Not only had Yang and Ruby somehow convinced Winter to apologize (a rare occurrence in and of itself), but Blake had stood up for her. She knew that they had gotten off to a rocky start, their first meeting was filled with tension for crying out loud, but it made Weiss feel as if they were truly making progress that Blake would stand up to someone that could not only expose her, but thrash her in battle as well.

Glancing to her friends, she noticed Winter listening attentively to what Yang was explaining and using Ruby as a demonstration doll. Blake also appeared to be paying attention, though it was harder to tell as she had perfected the art of appearing disinterested. It seemed a few things had happened that she had not been privy to. Normally, that would peeve the younger heiress, but simply seeing her friends get along with her sister was enough for now. Moving on to the full meal, Weiss ate contentedly as the others chattered around her, Winter asking a question occasionally and receiving some bizarre answer or another.

Finishing with her food, Weiss set the bowl that had contained the soup back on the tray and yawned softly, covering her mouth daintily. The others immediately took notice, Winter standing and reaching for the food-less tray. Glancing to her little sister, the lieutenant shifted, wondering if she should apologize again. The other members of Team RWBy noticed her discomfort and Ruby quickly cut off any possible escape routes while Yang nudged the older Schnee encouragingly.

"Go on." Yang instructed.

"I-I'll… come by to see you tomorrow." Winter said slowly, seeming to chew the words over carefully.

"You're getting there." The brawler beamed, crossing her arms proudly.

"Yang, you don't need to make her do that!" Weiss scolded her teammate, a slight tinge of pink coming to her cheeks. "Winter is in the military. She has other duties and assignments to attend to that are far more important than ensuring my-."

"No." Once again, the command was soft and firm. All four first years looked to the lieutenant curiously and Winter cleared her throat. "As your older sister, it is my duty to ensure your safety. That duty is not lifted simply because I have been away for a long while. You need rest to replenish your aura. Get some sleep, Weiss. I will be by to see you tomorrow."

Winter began walking toward the door and Yang waved to Weiss, following after the older woman. "We should work on that formality too. Is that a Schnee thing? Cause Weiss does it sometimes too, princess that she is."

"She's an heiress, actually." Winter pointed out, the pair continuing on into the hall.

Blake and Ruby watched them go before the former shook her head and stood. "I'm sorry about blowing up at your sister, Weiss." Blake stated. "But she did deserve it. I'm glad to see you're doing okay now."

"We'll come by to see you tomorrow!" Ruby added, giving the whitette a quick hug and a wave before following Blake out.

Weiss watched her friends go and allowed a small smile to tug her lips, sinking back down to grab some more sleep. As she thought on the conversation she had had with Winter before her friends' arrival, Weiss realized something interesting. Her heart warmed slightly at the phrase Winter had uttered for the first time in years. It allowed her to begin slipping into an easy sleep as she reminisced all of the times she had heard it before they grew apart. Sinking into slumber, Weiss smiled at the nickname.

 _Little snowflake._

* * *

 ** _And there you are. I know it's a stretch, but I like awkward and trying big sister Winter. Also, Yang would totally teach Winter how to Big Sis. Tell me what you thought, alligators._**


End file.
